AJ Reynolds/OnlineAthens & The Athens Banner-Herald

UGA women's tennis earns No. 1 seed; men earn No. 10 seed

By Staff Reportssports@onlineathens.com – published Tuesday, April 29, 2014

The Georgia women’s tennis team earned the No. 1 seed in the 2014 NCAA tournament and will host first- and second-round action at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex, the NCAA announced Tuesday.

It is first time in program history that Georgia enters the NCAA tournament as the top seed.

“I’m really excited for these players who have worked so hard all year and have had a great year,” coach Jeff Wallace said in a release. “I guess it means that we’ve had the best regular season of anybody in the country according to a group of people and that’s fantastic.

“We’re probably even more excited that we’re hosting this tournament here in Athens and that’s always a special opportunity and a special time for these young ladies.”

The Bulldogs (21-4) will be making their 28th consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament, ranking fifth nationally in a tie with Florida.

Georgia is 67-25 in the NCAA tournament, including 10 trips to the semifinals with national titles in 1994 and 2000.

Georgia will face Elon (15-8) in the first round at 4 p.m. on May 9.

The other first round match, set for 1 p.m. on May 9, will feature Arizona (17-5) and Florida State (15-12).

The first-round winners will meet at 4 p.m. May 10 for the second round.

Georgia is 1-0 all-time against Elon, with their lone matchup ending in a 4-0 Bulldog win in the 2014 season opener.

The Bulldogs are 1-0 all-time against Arizona and 8-10 all-time versus Florida State. Georgia hasn’t faced any of these teams in NCAA postseason competition.

The Georgia men’s tennis team (16-7) received the No. 10 overall seed and will host the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament.

Jacksonville State, NC State, and Oregon will also compete in Athens for the first and second rounds.

Georgia and Jacksonville State will meet at 1 p.m. May 10, while NC State and Oregon will face off at 10 a.m. that day. The winners will play one another in the second round on 1 p.m. May 11.

Georgia is hosting the tournament for a record 31st time.

The Bulldogs received an at-large bid into the tournament, winning the 2014 Southeastern Conference regular season title before falling to Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals of the SEC championships earlier this month.

The Bulldogs are making their 36th overall appearance in the tournament and 31st in a row, entering with a record of 94-30. Georgia reached the NCAA semifinals in 2013, and has reached the finals a total of 13 times. In all, the squad owns six NCAA championships, most recently coming in back-to-back seasons in 2007-08.

Jacksonville State (17-7, 8-1 OVC) earned its fourth bid to the NCAA Championships in program history by virtue of claiming the 2014 Ohio Valley Conference title with a win over Belmont on April 19.